A girl who loves to eat and travel

A taster of the Caulfield Cup Carnival

Spring is in the air which means so is the Spring Racing Carnival. Regular readers would know that I’m a big racing fan so I was very happy to be invited to a preview evening for the food and drink which will be served at the Crown Golden Ale Caulfield Cup Carnival.

The Melbourne Racing Club is really stepping things up in the food and drink arena with chef Ian Curley heading up the kitchen. Members and those in the Black Caviar Restaurant will get canapes like a tartar of tuna with a green apple salad and sorbet topped with caviar. Seriously swanky and really refreshing and light I loved the Asian influences in this dish.

Tartar of tuna at the Melbourne Racing Club

However while the other canape I tried looked spectacular. The tiny bowl of goats cheese with edible soil and heirloom carrots was too salty.

We got a behind the scenes look at the huge commercial kitchen which all the meals are produced from and sat down there to watch Ian prepare our main course. A fricasse of John Dory with oyster and mussel escabeche was visually spectacular with so many golden, rich colours. I loved the freshness of the dish – all the flavours really popped.

John Dory at the Melbourne Racing Club

To finish there was rhubarb and ginger pudding with mint caramel icing. This is the Melbourne Racing Club’s new signature dessert and I’m impressed Curley has opted for a pudding over a cake or cold dessert. The pudding matched really well with the rich honeyed flavours of the Crown Ambassador beer it was served with. It tastes very British and would make a great finish to a meal at the races.